of FederSpecialists
10 DIC –
Dear Director,
in recent days the new Minister Schillaci announced to Parliament the road map with the main actions that this Government intends to implement in terms of health policies. We regret to note the absence of references to interventions on specialist medical training with the exception of a mention of the number of specialization contracts already allocated starting from 2020 with the PNRR; also noting that part of these remained unused, especially in those sectors where there is a greater shortage of specialists throughout the national territory.
For this reason – while understanding the relevance of the reforms introduced with Ministerial Decree 77 – we cannot fail to note the lack of interest shown by the Government in regards to a reform of specialist medical training. We are pleased that Minister Schillaci acknowledges the existence of a state of profound suffering of the NHS, mainly due to the great shortage of personnel. However, we are once again witnessing the umpteenth attempts at a lacunary and non-organic resolution of this problem.
In particular, we are referring to the approval of the amendment with which doctors will be able to remain in service on a voluntary basis up to the age of 72, potentially blocking the career progression of many (and in fact making the NHS even less attractive), as well as to the proposal to rotate all the doctors specializing in the emergency rooms of Italy for the sole purpose of filling gaps in the organic plans without identifying training courses, aiming exclusively at saving for the regional treasury.
In our opinion, these positions move in the opposite direction to the planning that we have been advocating for years, which should instead be based on updated health needs and not on a recurrence of the past in the future on the basis of “it has always been done this way”. Improving the working conditions of health personnel, enhancing protection, guaranteeing career opportunities, facilitating a real balance between private and working life, providing adequate remuneration must be priority measures, especially in deficient areas.
Not only that: we have repeatedly reiterated that care and attention is necessary for specialist medical training, that the changes that concern it must be based on evidence and always shared with stakeholders. It is dangerous, especially in a moment of lack of specialists, to think that the weight of the problem can be entirely transferred to the resident doctors; but above all it cannot be the reason for further debasing the training courses already put to the test by the pandemic emergency. We emphasize that the problem is widespread and shared at European level: the European Junior Doctors Association has also recently expressed the same concerns about the attempt to solve the problems of European health services on the skin of the youngest.
Young doctors are an important resource and we believe that their role is fundamental also and above all in this particular moment: it is evident that we have never backed down to respond to emergencies and contingent needs and we will continue to do so. However, it is necessary to immediately invest in the Italian post-graduate training system, not as a personnel resource to be used in times of crisis, but as the present and future of the NHS: enhancing the acquisition of skills, the necessary supervision and tutoring, improving working conditions and training environments, building a system that really leads to the acquisition of increasing autonomy and responsibility, adapting the contractual system in line with post-COVID healthcare.
We cannot think of continuing to ask young people to “plug the holes” without giving prospects for improving the system in which they are and in which they will be inserted. The risk of abandonment, burnout and loss of trust in the training and work system are just around the corner.
FederSpecializzandi, therefore, therefore invites the competent Ministries to open permanent tables where to find shared solutions in the protection first of all of the health of the population, and of the parties involved, inviting all the trade associations to a fruitful collaboration.
FederSpecialising
December 10, 2022
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